Think About Direction, and R.E.M.’s Deluxe Reissue of “Green”

Not long after R.E.M.’s last 25th anniversary edition was released, they’re already prepping the next archival project: Rolling Stone reports an expanded edition of 1988’s Green is on its way May 14.

The Athens, Georgia quartet’s sixth album in as many years was a notable event for them. After a healthy run ascending to the upper echelon of the alternative rock scene on I.R.S. Records, the band took on a new contract with major label Warner Bros., with whom they’d stay for the remainder of their career. The sound of Green, which, like predecessor Document was produced by Scott Litt and the band (an association that would continue through 1996’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi), was still familiar enough to endear itself to their current fan base but also peppy and accessible enough to attract new fans.

The results – which hewed more toward acoustic sounds than they’d previously done – were satisfying to both critics and audiences. Singles “Orange Crush,” “Pop Song 89” and “Stand” almost entirely dominated both Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock tracks (“Pop Song 89” only peaked at No. 14 on the mainstream chart), and the groovy, simple-but-effective “Stand” crossed over into the U.S. Top 10, helping the record to its eventual double-platinum sales status.

Once again, this deluxe reissue comes with a live show – and details on that are after the jump!

R.E.M.’s Green tour was their most ambitious yet, and took them across 130 dates. The bonus disc features the penultimate show from that tour, recorded at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 10, 1989. The set list drew heavily from Green, featuring eight of the LP’s 11 cuts and even featured “Low” and “Belong,” two songs that would make it on the band’s 1991 follow-up, Out of Time.

Like the Document reissue, it’s been confirmed that the show will not be complete – not due to licensing cover songs (although only one of the four performed, Pylon’s “Strange,” are included), but time constraints (the set list features no less than 29 songs!). But there is good news: on Record Store Day, Rhino will release a five-track EP featuring songs that didn’t make the bonus disc. The label will press 2,500 of these discs, which will also come with an original Green tour patch after a batch were found in the band’s archive.

Look for pre-orders on the two-disc Green, as well as a remastered vinyl edition of the original album, soon – and check out the track list below!

R.E.M., Green: 25th Anniversary Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino, 2013)

Disc 1: Remastered original LP (originally released as Warner Bros. 25795, 1988)

1. Pop Song 89
2. Get Up
3. You Are the Everything
4. Stand
5. World Leader Pretend
6. The Wrong Child
7. Orange Crush
8. Turn You Inside-Out
9. Hairshirt
10. I Remember California
11. 11/Unititled

Disc 2: Live at the Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC – 11/10/1989

1. Stand
2. The One I Love
3. Turn You Inside Out
4. Belong
5. Exhuming McCarthy
6. Good Advices
7. Orange Crush
8. Cuyahoga
9. These Days
10. World Leader Pretend
11. I Believe
12. Get Up
13. Life and How to Live It
14. Its the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
15. Pop Song 89
16. Fall on Me
17. You Are the Everything
18. Begin The Begin
19. Low
20. Finest Worksong
21. Perfect Circle

R.E.M., Live in Greensboro EP (Warner Bros./Rhino, 2013)

1. So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
2. Feeling Gravitys Pull
3. Strange
4. King of Birds
5. I Remember California